


in this moment, i’m gonna cherish you

by rokhyun



Category: Catfish: The TV Show, 백퍼센트 | 100 Percent (Band)
Genre: M/M, this started as a joke and then i had to make it reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 09:58:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11552784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rokhyun/pseuds/rokhyun
Summary: Rokhyun and Chanyong have been talking online for years without meeting. Divine intervention - or in this case, Nev & Max - ends up sealing both their fates.





	in this moment, i’m gonna cherish you

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to the person who came up with a plot detail. you know who you are. anyways, i don't know how exciting this is as i wrote it half-jokingly. please tell me if there's typos or anything else weird! thank you ~

_ Dear Nev and Max, _

_ My name is Rokhyun. I live in Los Angeles, currently getting ready for my second year of uni. I have been talking to this guy, Chanyong, online for 3 years. We talk every single day over texts or Facebook. We confessed our feelings for one another about a year ago, and since then I’ve been more persistent about meeting up, but he refuses. He even refuses to speak on the phone, claiming his phone is damaged and unable to utilise the mic function. He told me he lives in San Francisco, but every time I offer to come down and see him, he finds a new excuse. I’m at my wit’s end. I’ve started to fear I might have been duped for the past 3 years of my life, but I love this guy and I really need closure. Thank you. _

 

_ Kim Rokhyun _

 

Rokhyun hesitated for a few seconds before hitting send. How would Chanyong react to this? Would he be offended? Would he cut off all contact with Rokhyun? He shivered. Losing his best friend for the past few years, who coincidentally happened to be his first real love, would devastate him. But this was a necessary step if he wanted to continue talking to Chanyong, Rokhyun told himself. After all, he couldn’t put his whole life on hold for someone who might not be who they claimed to be. 

 

*****

 

Three weeks later, Rokhyun was contacted by MTV. His story had resonated with the producers, and he was told to expect a Skype call from Nev and Max this evening. As he was reading the email, a text message popped up. It was Chanyong, of course.

 

“So, any plans for the weekend? :*”

 

Rokhyun stared at the text for what felt like hours. He wasn’t really  _ that _ into the idea of slamming the whole “not much, just contacted Catfish and they’re coming here tomorrow” spiel on his semi-boyfriend yet. 

 

“None that I know of! Except talking to you of course  ❤ ”

 

He sent the text, feeling a pool of guilt in his stomach. Technically, he hadn’t lied about not knowing his plans, because he didn’t. He had obviously watched Catfish before, but he still didn’t have a clue what to expect. What were they gonna find out about Chanyong? Would they even find anything when all Rokhyun had to offer was a Facebook account and a phone number? Would Chanyong agree to meet with MTV’s help or would it end in yet another rejection? The questions kept building up in his mind, not helped by the Skype call being in just 3 hours.

 

*****

 

“Rokhyun! Hi!” 

 

The webcam video became visible as Rokhyun heard Nev’s voice through his speakers.

 

“Hey Nev, Max,” Rokhyun waved into his camera. 

 

After a bit of the usual small talk, it was time for business.

 

“So, tell us more about this guy,” Max said. 

 

Rokhyun pondered for a moment. “Well, like I said, we met online.” He giggled. “Actually… We met through a Facebook game.” 

 

Max lost it, Nev smirked in an attempt to not laugh along. “Really?” Rokhyun laughed. 

 

“Yeah. I saw him in the Challenge section, sent him a challenge, he sent me a friend request and here we are.” He paused. “I know what you’re gonna say, and I know; accepting random friend requests on Facebook is usually not a good sign.” 

 

Both Max and Nev nodded in agreement. “You said it yourself. Anyway, are you in LA right now?” Rokhyun nodded. “So are we, actually. We can come over in 2 hours, if you’re ready?” 

 

“Uh, okay, wow, yeah!” Rokhyun gasped. He hadn’t expected things to progress this fast. 

 

Nev smiled. “Don’t worry, Rokhyun. We’ll solve this mystery for you, I promise. The production crew should have your address and phone number so I’ll text you when we’re nearby!”

 

The call ended. Rokhyun felt a ton of emotions all at once. Everything was suddenly becoming very, very real. He checked his phone. There was another text from Chanyong. 

 

“Aww babe you’re flattering me. Work is so busy today. Wish you were here </3”

 

Rokhyun’s lips curled into a tiny smile. He would be there in a couple days, hopefully. He started typing a response.

 

“I wish I was there too… Soon ❤”

 

He put his phone down and decided to leave Chanyong hanging on that last word for today. The Catfish crew would arrive in about an hour, so he grabbed a change of clothes and decided to shower, trying to rinse his obvious nervousness off.

 

*****

 

As the camera crew finished their set-up, Rokhyun, Nev and Max sat down in the kitchen. 

 

“So, this guy,” Nev began. “You said you have been in contact for 3 years, right? And you’ve  _ never _ spoken on the phone before?” Rokhyun nodded.

 

“Yeah, he says he has a really old Android phone unable to make calls.”

 

Max looked unconvinced. “A young guy without a functional smartphone? That alone sounds fishy.” Nev agreed.

 

“Has he never expressed a desire to be able to call you?”

 

Rokhyun looked somber. “He has. He says he works at some fast food restaurant where the pay isn’t that great, and he hasn’t been able to afford a new phone yet.”

 

“I mean, if he really wanted to talk to you, you can get plenty of cheap phones that will give you that option,” Max said. “You said you met on Facebook? Can we see his profile?” Rokhyun agreed and pulled up the page. 

 

“Chanyong [BEEP], San Francisco, CA. Promising so far.” Nev arched an eyebrow as he scrolled down. “30 friends?” He exchanged glances with Max. “No profile picture?” Nev asked, facing Rokhyun. He nodded, blushing vividly.

 

“I… There’s something I kind of… forgot to bring up.” 

 

Max arched an eyebrow. Nev looked mildly frightened. “I’ve… I’ve never actually seen a picture of his face,” Rokhyun semi-whispered.

 

“Time out.” Max put his camera down. “You’ve not even  _ seen _ the guy?”

 

Rokhyun nodded again. “All I have is a couple of blurry webcam pictures. I… He says he doesn’t have anything else.”

 

Max wrinkled his nose. “That’s a red flag for sure.”

 

Nev agreed. “Anyway, we’ll do some investigating and then report back to you tomorrow with our findings.”

 

“Thank you, guys. I really need closure, I…” Rokhyun was getting choked up. “I really love him. I’ve never felt this way before.” 

Nev handed him a tissue, and he continued. “I used to think I was abnormal for never having crushes in school. As I got older I started to resign myself to the fact that it wouldn’t happen. But…” He glanced at his phone. “Then I met Chanyong.”

 

Nev and Max exchanged glances of sympathy. They had to help this guy for sure.

 

*****

 

After a couple hours of phone number searching, feeble attempts at tracing bad webcam photos and sending out messages to Chanyong’s Facebook friends, Nev and Max had come up short. Everything, to their surprise, seemed to check out. The area code on the phone number connected to San Fran. Their one photograph hadn’t yielded a result either. All they had left now was the people they had contacted.

 

While discussing the situation with the camera guys, Nev’s phone suddenly rang.

 

“San Francisco! It has to be one of them,” Max said, as Nev took the call. 

 

“Hello? Who is this?”

 

“Hey, is this Nev? This is Hyukjin,” the voice on the other end responded.

 

“Oh, hey Hyukjin! You’re a friend of Chanyong?”

 

“Mmhm,” Hyukjin laughed. “I should have expected this to happen eventually to him.”

 

The hosts looked confused. “How come?” Max inquired.

 

“He sounds like a textbook Catfish, doesn’t he? This was about Rokhyun, right?”

 

Nev raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Yes, it is, and yes, he really does. So you know Rokhyun?”

 

He could almost hear Hyukjin nod over the phone. “Yeah! Or, well, not personally, but Chanyong talks about him all the time.” Max and Nev looked at each other wide-eyed.

 

“So, back to the textbook Catfish thing…” Nev began, quickly interrupted by the young boy on the phone. 

 

“Right, sorry! Yeah, so, the thing about him having an old and essentially broken phone? It’s true.” Hyukjin got quiet. “He’s been trying to afford a new phone for Rokhyun’s sake, but his dad just lost his job…”

 

“Oh, yeah, that must be rough… And he doesn’t have a webcam or a mic either?”

 

“No, he has a desktop computer without those functions,” Hyukjin confirmed. “I’ve always told him this day was gonna come eventually…”

 

Nev shrugged, then smiled. “Thank you for everything, Hyukjin. You’ve been extremely helpful.”

 

“No problem at all! Bye!” With that, Hyukjin hung up. Nev turned to Max.

 

“So, what did you make of that?”

 

Max looked lost in thought. “Honestly? I think Hyukjin could be covering for Chanyong.”

 

“Really?” Nev chuckled. Max nodded. 

 

“Either that or he  _ is _ Chanyong. Dude. He said it himself. This is a textbook Catfish!”

 

“You have a point. We just have to hope for the best when we contact Chanyong tomorrow.”

 

*****

 

“Everything checked out?” Rokhyun’s hand flew over his mouth to cover a gasp.

 

Max nodded. “Everything checked out. There is one last thing, though…”

 

They had just finished relaying the investigation to Rokhyun, save for the phone call. Nev cleared his throat. 

 

“We messaged all his Facebook friends too, and ended up getting a phone call from one. Hyukjin.”

 

Rokhyun felt optimistic. “Right, Chanyong has mentioned him. They went to school together. What did he say?”

 

“He confirmed Chanyong’s whole phone story. It really is broken, according to Hyukjin. He doesn’t own a webcam either.” Nev paused. “However, this posed a new theory for us.”

 

Max continued. “We think there’s still a possibility of Hyukjin and Chanyong being the same person. After all, as he said himself, this sounds very textbook Catfish.”

 

“But! He could still be who he says he is,” Nev quickly added. “He might just be in a very unfortunate situation. I’m thinking it’s time we shoot him a message. Are you okay with this, Rokhyun?”

 

Rokhyun frantically nodded. “By all means.”

 

Nev composed a text, and hit send. Merely 10 minutes later, Chanyong responded.

 

“‘Is this really Catfish? If it is… then yeah. I need to apologise to him in person.”

 

“Apologise? That sounds a little ominous…” Nev looked at Rokhyun, who in turn looked confused. 

 

Shortly afterwards, Nev and Max left Rokhyun alone to pack for the trip tomorrow. Rokhyun, however, was very distracted. He couldn’t stop thinking about Chanyong’s text. What did he want to apologise for? As he started packing, his phone beeped. It was Chanyong.

 

“So… Tomorrow, huh. After 3 whole years.”

 

Rokhyun smiled faintly, typing a reply.

 

“Yeah, I can’t wait to finally see you! And hear you!”

 

Chanyong sent a text back quick. “LIKEWISE. I love you. Don’t forget that. ❤ Now go to bed so you’re ready for me tomorrow :*”

 

Rokhyun giggled. He always melted over anything Chanyong said. He was excited by the prospect of hearing him say those things in person.

 

“You too dummy! Go to bed, I love you ❤❤” 

 

Rokhyun sent the text, put down his phone once again, and went back to packing. He was unsure whether he would actually get any sleep that night.

 

*****

 

The car ride went by so slowly, or at least Rokhyun felt like it did. He was almost as terrified as he was excited.

 

“He texted me a location.” Max reached out to grab Nev’s phone so he could read the text.

 

“It’s a nearby park.” He gave the phone back to Nev. “How are you feeling, Rokhyun?”

 

“Speaking freely…” Rokhyun hesitated. “I’ve never been this anxious in my life.”

 

Nev finished typing the location in the GPS. “That’s perfectly normal. Take a deep breath. The park is just around the corner.”

 

Rokhyun tried to calm himself down, but his heart was fluttering like crazy. They pulled into a parking lot. Nev hadn’t lied; the park really was just around the corner.

 

“Are you ready?” Nev put his hand on Rokhyun’s shoulder in support. 

 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Rokhyun took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. 

 

Max pointed towards a gazebo near the center of the park. “We can wait there; it looks like no one’s here yet.”

 

As they headed towards the spot, someone approached from the other side. “Oh my god.” Rokhyun felt his heart stop. He whispered to Nev. “Is that him?” 

 

Nev shrugged. “Want to stay back while I go check it out?”

 

“Yeah.” Rokhyun and Max stayed in place as Nev went to interrogate the mysterious shadow. Since no one knew what Chanyong looked like, all they could do was guess.

 

To top it off, the person was wearing a hoodie, effectively removing every chance of seeing their face from afar. Rokhyun was shaking at this point. Max tried to calm him down; at the same time Nev turned around and beckoned the two others over to the gazebo. It was time. Rokhyun slowly moved towards it, followed closely by Max. The stranger took his hood off.

 

“Oh… my god.”

 

*****

 

“It’s you.”

 

Rokhyun’s jaw fell. The boy in front of him was, indeed, Chanyong. He knew as much. 

 

“You know him?” Max looked at Rokhyun in surprise, then at Nev, who looked equally as surprised.

 

“We… oh my god.” Rokhyun was lost for words. “It’s really you…”

 

Chanyong decided to take over. “We used to play together when we were about 8 and 11, respectively… But then I had to move away.” He looked at Rokhyun, smiling weakly. “I can’t believe you remember me.”

 

“So, wait. Let me get this straight.” Nev searched for the right words, but even he was struggling to make sense of everything. “You played together 13 years ago? You’re essentially childhood friends?”

 

Chanyong nodded. “Yeah, I… we lost touch afterwards, given that the options were limited. But I never stopped thinking about you, Rokhyun.”

 

“Why didn’t you just… tell me?” 

 

Rokhyun was overwhelmed. A lot of things were starting to make sense. He had always felt a genuine connection with Chanyong; as if they had met before. Even back at age 11, he had felt it. An unexplainable bond, like no matter what happened they were eventually gonna find each other again. That was how he had comforted himself when Chanyong moved away. He just hadn’t expected it to be like this, on worldwide television, deeply in love with the boy. And to tell the truth… He had never stopped thinking about Chanyong either. A repressed part of himself had probably hoped it would turn out to be him all along.

 

“I’m sorry, I… I was afraid you had forgotten me.” Chanyong looked sullen. As Nev opened his mouth to speak, suddenly Rokhyun’s arms were around Chanyong, who nearly leaped in surprise.

 

Forgetting about the cameras, the crew and everything else, Rokhyun and Chanyong held each other tight. Nev and Max winked at each other, as they started moving away, giving the boys some space. Chanyong pulled out of the hug, only to pull Rokhyun back into a kiss as he made sure the cameras were gone.

 

It felt like they had both waited an eternity for this. It was suddenly so real. All the feelings from the past 3 years, hell, more than that, suddenly felt so overwhelming. Rokhyun leaned in close to Chanyong’s ear, whispering what he had been waiting to say forever.

 

“I’ve always loved you, dummy.”

 

“Likewise.”


End file.
